Thugocracy

You know that the ancient Chinese curse of "May you live in interesting times" is true when the unions start rolling out to suppress free speech while claiming protesters are "attacking America." You can't make that kind of idiocy up, though you can satirize the mass media instructions/marching orders given out of Washington. Of course, in the left's view of the 1st Amendment, it is only valid when they protest and when confronted with an opposing view, they are entitled to slap down the opposition. Or just close the doors on anyone who wasn't snuck in the side door in an effort to pack a townhall meeting.

Hey, if someone opposes the Obamacare bill, the White House has asked that people submit their name to a list they are archiving. “These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.”

Nothing intimidating about that!

Then there is the lie about astroturfing (creating fake grassroots, a specialty of the Chicago machine's Axelrod) being spread, with insurance companies, Fox news, or the RNC organizing too well dressed protesters. Which is very silly indeed, as I have been to multiple Tea Party rallies and they are made of a wide political range of people indeed, including Republican haters. Top that off with Republican "insiders" ie: the reigning political class in the party, aka country club Republicans thinking the protests useless and plebian and it becomes clear who is really astroturfing. But don't forget, it is organized mobs causing all the fuss, according to the Democrats.

All of this is like playing with matches in a drought stricken forest. With the ever increasing reach of the federal government into literally all aspects of everyday life, the American people are getting more than uncomfortable. There is a sense that too much control is being taken away from individuals, aggravated by the severe economic downturn that shows no real sign of abatement. That is the motivation for these protests and the people who attend them.

In Discourses, Nico Machiavelli wrote that peoples are "extraordinarily revengeful toward those who have destroyed their liberty." He relates an account of the city of Corcyra in Greece during the Pelopennesian war. Ancient Greece broke between two camps, the Athenians and the Spartans, with the people of Corcyra being torn politically. The upper class nobles wanted an alliance with Sparta while the people wanted freedom and alignment with Athens. Subsequently, the upper class took over and instituted dictatorial rule that lasted until the Athenians were able to render aid to the people of the city.

The populace rose up and imprisoned the nobles in one prison, then set about executing them in cruel ways. Of course, that caused a prison uprising which ended when a crowd of the people marched on the prison. They collapsed its walls and upper story on the nobles to crush them.

Machiavelli concludes, "We thus see how true it is that a liberty which you have actually had taken away is avenged with much greater ferocity than is a liberty which someone has only tried to take away."

At the moment, with cap and trade passed and Obamacare being rushed through, people are waking up to the threat of their freedom to make choices being taken away. That's dangerous enough to cause trouble on its on. Adding in union thugs and a refusal to listen to constituents to the mix takes it from being a threat to an actual denial of liberty. If that threshold of perception is crossed, things can explode.

And one last time for the confused, please click on the difference between grass roots and astroturfers.